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Spring Golf
(This article is dated by the editors as April of 2000, when the actual date of original publication is deterimined we will correct the date)
“Golf kept me from taking an honest job. My theory is never work for a living if you don’t have to.”
Today, due to the acceleration and importance of athletics in schools, a great many youngsters are becoming victims of sports injuries. So many schools have made sports more of a business than of just plain sports. In earlier days we had all of the sports of today. We had the regular schedule of all of the schools in the area, as well as having a main rival school. Football and Soccer started in September and ran though October. Basketball started in November and ended in early March. Baseball training started in late March and ended up at the close of the school year. There was not an overlapping of seasons for sports, and this let the better athletes play in all sports.
Schools did, however, keep sports in perspective, and their importance was secondary to education. If, on the day of the “big game,” some of the players had detentions for any type of infraction in school, he just did not get to play. I suffered that fate a couple of times for not paying proper attention to my schoolwork. That really got my attention. Today sports, although very important, have become too important to the parents, and in turn too important to the schools. By letting leading athletes play, even though they have violated some of the rules, schools, and coaches, are depriving that person of his/her education.
What got me off on this subject, is that I am running into youngsters today who are receiving sports injuries, especially with the legs. Legs play a very important part in the golf swing, especially the left leg in a right handed golfer, and the right leg in the left handed player. Even with the improvement in knee surgery, the odds are pretty good that this injury will be a problem for many years, and definitely detrimental to golf. You can play the more physical sports for just a few years, but you can play golf for a lifetime. That is why you see so many new male golfers who are in the early 30’s taking up the game today. They can no longer play other sports.
I am not saying that you cannot acquire injuries from golf, because you can. Nearly all-professional golfers have some sort of injuries. They, however, do nothing but hit thousands of golf balls, and the normal body does not handle these movements too well. I am assuming that you will not be hitting thousands of balls, and just do normal practicing, and playing mainly for recreation.
“Most people seem to have fun here…even when they’re lining up their fourth putt”
Spring is here and now the occasional “fair weather golfer” will start coming out of the woodwork. Not only will games be rusty, but also there is a strong tendency to bring out the whole family. The occasional golfer will usually be ignorant of the courtesy rules, and even with the urging of the course Marshall it is very difficult to speed up players who hit the ball 20 feet at a time. Additionally there will be the coaching of a non- golfer trying to help another non-golfer. This is a difficult time of the year and can be a period when many golfers are possessed with “Course Rage.” Fortunately, this usually does not last too long, and the slow occasional golfer either learns to speed it up, or retires for the summer. They usually come back on short holidays when they do not have enough time to go out of town.. Be patient with them they will be gone shortly.
In the early spring there is a transition of grasses on the greens from winter to summer grasses. There will be a time when the greens will not be in great condition. You will experience this with your lawns. In this part of the country we usually go from nice spring weather to hot summer weather almost overnight. Unsightly spring weeds will die rapidly as soon as it gets hot.
“If we played a course like this every week, there wouldn’t be anybody left at the end of the season. We’d all quit the game.” (Mark Calcavechia)
The golf courses that you see on TV with the Tour events are not the types of golf courses you can play and say that you had a good time. Many people play courses like Pebble Beach once in a lifetime just to brag that they played there. You will not hear, however, that they played well or enjoyed their game. One of the top pros once said, "You cannot say that you had a good time after having played a Jack Nicklaus designed golf course.” The golf courses of today are products of ego-oriented owners and designers.
A golf course should be designed with the idea of attracting golfers. The people who pay the bills are the average golfers, and not the par shooters. An average golfer should be encouraged to have a good time and shoot a decent score, and not have to tackle a monster of a golf course.
The biggest problem that has always plagued golf, is slow play. A golf course should be set up as easy as possible on all busy days. This will speed up play and allow more rounds to be played, and increasing income for the club. Golfers will be more tolerant, and scores will be better.
Bent grass greens are a “snob” grass in this part of the country. The cost is of maintenance is prohibitive, and people will not putt one bit better. A bent grass green can be lost over night, and you will not have another green the rest of the summer. Example: Montgomery C. C. two years ago when they lost their greens for the summer. If, at The Pines, you had Bent greens on numbers 1, 2, 5, 9, and 18, you would never be able to finish if you hit your ball above the hole. That is why the professional golfer takes so much time in putting. He has to have the touch of a Brain Surgeon to putt on those greens, while most of us possess the touch of a Blacksmith.
Golf should be fun, and affordable, and not a survival test. New golf courses will eventually revert to easier playing conditions after they start losing money.
“Your financial cost of playing golf can best be figured out when you realize if you were to devote the same time and energy to business instead of golf, you would be a millionaire in approximately six weeks.”
Copyright 2004 Fred Larsen All Rights Reserved